A busy final quarter of 2017 for Canada’s Provincial Nominee ProgramsOntario, B.C. and Manitoba led the way, issuing invitations late into the year

Canada’s Provincial Nominee Programs continued to prove over the past few weeks why they are becoming an increasingly popular pathway to Canadian permanent residence.

These programs, which allow provinces and territories to nominate individuals for Canadian permanent residence based on labour market needs,have been especially active in Ontario, British Columbia and Manitoba since CIC News last provided an update in mid-October.

Ontario

Ontario’s Express Entry-aligned Human Capital Priorities Stream once again opened and issued new Notifications of Interest in early November. This immigration stream allows the Ontario Immigrant Nominee Program (OINP) to select candidates from the federal Express Entry pool with the professional skills and ability to integrate into the province’s labour market and communities.

Candidates identified through this stream are issued a Notification of Interest that invites them to apply for provincial nomination by Ontario. Express Entry candidates with a provincial nomination receive an additional 600 points towards their Comprehensive Ranking System score.

After announcing on November 22 that it had reached its nomination allocation limit for 2017, the OINP issued an update on December 18 announcing that it had received an additional allocation from the Government of Canada and would continue processing applications and issuing nominations until this additional quota was met.

In late December, the OINP also issued a progress report that provided a number of interesting details about the program, not least of all the fact that the majority of 2017 nominees are employed in Information and Communications Technologies (ICT) occupations.Software engineers and designers led the OINP’s top five nominee occupation categories, followed by computer programmers and interactive media developers.

In the same report, the OINP showed 1,835 nominees in 2017 hailing from India, with China a close second at 1,608 nominees.

The minimum scores required for an invitation to apply remained relatively stable over the course of the quarter. The only variation was a slight jump in the minimum under the Express Entry BC Skilled Worker category, which rose from 73 to 80 in the December 6 draw.

The MPNP remained active through the last quarter of 2017, with three draws on October 31, November 23, December 13 and December 29. The draws saw a combined 943 Letters of Advice to Apply issued to candidates in the Skilled Worker in Manitoba stream and another 156 issued to candidates in the Skilled Workers Overseas categories.

The International Skilled Worker — Express Entry draw took place October 26 and accepted up to 1,000 new applications for provincial nomination. The intake was the sub-category’s largest to date and surpassed the 600 applications that were accepted in each of its two previous openings in 2017.

The International Skilled Worker — Express Entry sub-category is for skilled workers with experience in one of Saskatchewan’s in-demand occupations who are already in the federal Express Entry pool.

The Saskatchewan Entrepreneur Stream held its largest ever draw a few days later, on October 31. This draw saw 285 international entrepreneurs invited to apply for provincial nomination.

Category B: Paid Work Experience in an Opportunity Occupation requires at least one year of continuous full-time (or 1,560 hours or more) or an equal amount in part-time paid work experience in the last six years in a so-calledopportunity occupations, which are defined as professions for which there may be employment opportunities in Nova Scotia.

As with previous openings in 2017, Category B, which operates on a first-come, first-served basis, reached its intake limit quickly.

The new year promises to be an even busier one for Canada’s PNPs. Under the federal government’s Multi-Year Immigration Plan, 2018 should see a slight increase in PNP allocations. The allocation target of 55,000 for 2018 represents an eight per cent increase over 2017’s target of 51,000.